Future experiments

I will never stop experimenting on perfecting my equipment. I am planning on replacing the hot water inlet jet in the Appia in order to lower the brew temperatur. I hereby hope that I can avoid long cooling flushes.

This will hopefully make it easier for me to control the temperature in my home setup. As I have written about earlier I have to do a series of flushes to nail the temperature at 93,5 C. If I do these routines I really got a temperature stable machine.

I will be back when I have this new jet installed.

Compak K10 WBC

Now it is here

Going conical?

If everything works out then there should be Compak K10 conical WBC comming here soon.

I sure am looking forward too try it. I promises you I will be back.

Holiday - A perfect time to experiment with your equipment

The resent scace-measurements shows that The Appia is extremely temperature stable but also that it is heavily affected by your flush routine. So now it is time to find out what my routine is during making coffee. Normally I only make a set of cappucino's and then nothing else. But when guests show up I sometimes do more shots in a row. Normally though I only do one double shot at a time - but I let the machine stay turned on for a long time. These thoughts must lead to two experiments:

1. Doing multiple shots in a row for more servings: Measure the real time between shots - and measure what temperature the Appia will perform.

2. After a long of heating: Measure the amount of water needed to be flushed before the normal routine of making espressoes.

Eventually these experiments should make it possible to find out what routine I should use in a WBC 15 minutes competition style (Don't worry I am not going to the WBC - but EspressoBars HomeBarista Championship also uses 15 minutes competition time)

Scace reading III

Scace 2

These are yesterdays readings:

Scace reading on my Appia - update

After yesterdays great experience I decided to do a list of scace readings with my new found profile. The findings where a bit different than yesterday but not totally off.

A bit to the cold side so maybe I should raise the boiler pressure. The three shots that are lowest in temperature are shot numer 3, 4 and 5. 3 and 4 where done with 10 seconds between shots - 8 seconds flush - 20 seconds rebound. Only change with shot 5 was a 20 second slip between shot. The grey shot was done after 30 seconds from the shot before - 8 second flush - 20 second rebound.

FANTASTIC ESPRESSO

Today I Think I cracked the code.

First shot for the zink. Wait 10 seconds. 8 seconds flush 20 seconds rebound. Seemed pretty stable om 93'5 celsius through most of the shot. Test data and diagram Will follow and hopefully show that I am right.

One thing I have noticed is that if the flush is too short the temperature Will rise through the shot. If it is too long it Will Fall during the shot. 8 seconds seemed right.

Scace reading on my Appia

I have recently installed a restrictor in my appia and adjusted the boiler pressure to apr. 1 bar.

After that I set on to work on temperature profiles for my Appia - I borrowed a Scace device and here are my initial readings - I still have a lot to work with I see. The way I work is that I change the time between shots : flush time : rebound time. The best profile yet was after a long time of pre heating I made a shot after that a 3 minute reheating : 2 seconds flush : 15 seconds rebound - you will see it as the yellow shot :

After changing boiler pressure I discovered that the temperature still was'nt low enough. So I had to experiment with the intershot timing. Remembering Michael de Renouard saying that in a professional environment the intershot time was 30 seconds I tried to incorporate this in my testing. First impression of this test is that it is much more simple to reach the desired level of temperature. The only problem is consistency during the shot.


I am stille using the flush'n' rebound method rebound set to 20 seconds and experimenting with flush time. It seems that 2 seconds flush and 20 seconds rebound gives apr. 94 degr. celsius which I find acceptable but fluctuation during shot is still a bit too unstable to my likings. I will make more graphs later.

World Barista Championship 2010 - v. 2.0

I was lucky to get invited to another session at Growers Cup participating in Søren Stiller Markussens preparations for the championship. Once again I was amazed and inspired with the complex variations a small change in the preparation of the espresso makes in the final cup.

Besides tasting a lot of splendid coffee it was also inspired to different ways to work with my own coffee preparations. I am especially inspired to try to experiment even more with small changes in the different parameters.

World Barista Championship 2010

After seeing the Danish Barista Championship 2010 I feel pretty convinced that Denmark will be doing pretty good this year.

I am so lucky that I will be able too see one of Søren Stiller Markussens prep. days next monday. Looking forward to taste some good coffee - and perhabs learn a few tricks.

Grinder comparison comming up

In the near future I will try to make a comparison of my two grinders the Compak K6 and the Mazzer Mini Electronic B. Both are flat burr 64mm grinders. The Mazzer is doserless and the Compak has a competition doser.

I'm looking forward to see if I can taste a difference.

Updating the Compak K6 grinder

This weekend I received the spare parts I needed for the conversion of my Compak K6 to a Compak K6 Pro grinder. The difference between the two grinders are mainly the doser.

Before

After

Decided to change the burrs as well

New equipment update

I recently purchased this timer and connected it to the Compak grinder to be able to make a consistent dose of ground coffee each time I grind.

This is really old school

I am waiting to receive the Competition doser and the new grinding blades I ordered for the Compak. After this it must be time too make a comparison of my two grinders.

Espresso shots ctr. coffee puck

This will be the new thing I will investigate for now. Reading the coffee puck. So here is a set of pictures from this mornings double espresso shot - the picture of the coffee puck was taken shortly after making the shot - what I am looking for are dry spots.

Picture from DanskKaffeshow 2010

Billedet venligt stillet til rådighed af Thomas Sinkbæk

Dansk KaffeShow 2010

What a fantastic show - two amazing days where one could share your passion for coffee with fellow coffee geeks.

But what a tragic competition for me. I was placed last. To me it seems like the judges didn't approve of my choice of coffee - the Libereica and Robusta. I must admit that I did know that they might not like my choice but I had never considered that it would place me last.

Before this years competition I was so nervous so I considered never entering a competition again - but after this bitter defeat I am not sure. But you can be absolutely sure that next years coffee will be Arabica, that is if I choose to enter again.

New equipment

Since my last post I have welcomed some new equipment into my house. First I got a Nuova Simonelli Appia and shortly after that I received a Compak K6 - and also a new Brita Filter.

The Compak K6 was second hand so I have ordered a new set of burrs and also the competition doser that they supply to their grinders.

I am still in a period of learning about the new equipment. I have very high expectation to my new Appia. And I am allready convinced that they will be fulfilled.

I will enclose a picture of a double espresso shot I did today:

Dansk KaffeShow 2010

Live-Streaming fra Hjemmebarista DM

Som noget nyt vil der i år være live-streaming fra begivenheden. Så hvis i har brækket begge ben eller af andre årsager ikke kan være der selv, så kan i følge det på følgende link

 Ustream Dansk Kaffeshow 2010

Latte art

Her er lige et billede fra morgenkaffen:

Youtube

1. Der er mulighed for at se sidste års præstation på youtube her: Hjemmebarista DM 2009

Der er mulighed for at se min egen første video på youtube her:  Bottomless shot

1. træningsdag - Steaming/latte art kan ses på youtube her: 1. træningsdag

2. træningsdag - Espresso ekstraktion kan ses på youtube her: Espresso ekstraktion

3. træningsdag - Processen i at lave en cappucino kan ses på youtube her: Cappucino

Temperaturmåling med Scacedevice kan ses på youtube her: Scace


Jeg vil udarbejde flere videoer igennem træningsforløbet og løbende opdatere med links til dem.

1. Træningsdag - Steam teknik "latte art"

I dag blev så min første træningsdag. Mit fokus i 1. halvdel af dagen har været steam teknik og spæde latte art forsøg. Min maskine har et meget højt steam tryk - som sandsynligvis skyldes både en stor mængde damp og så også nogle huller i steam tippen der efter min mening er for store. Har prøvet forskellige steam-tips men VBM bruger en anderledes størrelse steam-tip, så der er ikke så mange at vælge imellem. Jeg bruger nu den 2-huls steamtip som maskinen blev leveret med.

Siden sidst har jeg justeret keddeltrykket lidt op igen for at se hvorledes det påvirkede brygtemperaturen. Det vil jeg ikke kom ind på her. Men det højere keddeltryk giver jo også mere tryk når jeg steamer, så vælger nu at justere keddeltrykket lidt ned igen.

Jeg vil snarligst opdatere links til dagens videoshots fra træningen. Der vil i kunne se hvorledes mælken ser ud. Latte-arten ser forfærdelig ud, men dagens vigtigste punkt har været at steame mælken så der dannes godt mikroskum og masser af det, så jeg kan forbedre mig der i forhold til sidste år.

Mit eget indtryk fra dagen er, at der er blevet markant mere skum end sidste år, og også et højere bundniveau i mikroskummen. Men jeg er ikke tilfreds. Som i kan se på de klip hvor jeg kontrollerer cappucinoerne med ske, så er der nogen hvor man kan se "mælkespejlet" altså en klar afgrænsning i drikken og andre hvor man ikke kan. Målet er jo at man ikke kan skelne mellem lagene. Men jeg må jo bare træne mere.

En sjov ting jeg har lagt mærke til er at det virker til at hvis man får indarbejdet meget luft i mælken, så varmes den hurtigere op - det kan godt være der er nogle åbenlyse faktorer der spiller ind som jeg ikke lige har opdaget.

Madhu – Leberica, Sethurman Estate. India

De fleste mennesker; også I kaffeverden er af den opfattelse, at sorten Leberica ikke er i kommercielt brug. En ting er opfattelse – en anden ting er virkeligheden. Madhu kom til Danmark første gang i 2008. På den lille Sethurman farm i Indien gror nogle ca. 60 år gamle Leberica træer, hvor bærrene plukkes ved, at kravle 10 – 30 meter op af bambus stiger for, at plukke de enkle kaffebær, der gror ofte 1 – 2 kaffebær hist og pist på træet Indenfor 2 timer efter plukningen fjernes frugtkødet med håndkraft, for at beskytte disse skrøbelige bønner – deraf farmens egen betegnelse for metoden de benytter: Pulp Sun Dried. Der går ca. 6000 kaffebønner på 1 kg kaffe! Der kommer ca. 40 – 60 kg Madhu kaffe pr. år. Kaffen har en elegant aroma, god krop og en let syrlighed, der i eftersmagen efterlader overraskende toner af en behagelig blød honningsmag med et meget svagt strøg af sød lakrids.

Cappucino bønne

Så er der nyt om valget af kaffebønner. Til cappucino har jeg udvalgt "Madhu – Leberica, Sethurman Estate. India". En bønne jeg glæder mig rigtigt meget til at servere.

Beskrivelsen af bønnen kommer i et særskilt indlæg.

Temperatur - Update 1

Nu nærmer konkurrencen sig og jeg har nu fået grønt lys fra konen til at bruge de kommende søndage til træning til Hjemmebarista DM 2010. Så nu skal der til at eksperimenteres:

Et af de vigtigste punkter er jo temperaturen der kan være en vanskelig størrelse at styre. Jeg har hidtil kørt med et tryk i vandkedlen på ca. 1,2 bar. Jeg har været modstander af at sætte den længere ned idet jeg gik ud fra at et keddeltryk på 1 bar modsvarede en temperatur på 100 gr. Og jeg ville være ked af at miste for meget steam-tryk. Men så faldt jeg over nedenstående skema på quahwa.dk hjemmesiden:

Kedeltryk (bar)                   Temperatur på vand i kedel (celsius)
1.0                                     122,8
1.1                                     123,9
1.2                                     125,0
1.3                                     126,1

Som det fremgår så svarer 1 bar til 122,8 gr. celsius. Så det vil sige at der stadig skulle kunne genereres en del damp til brug for at steame mælk. Så nu har jeg for eksperimentes skyld sat trykket til 1 bar og vil nu se hvordan det påvirker flushtiden samt temperatur stabiliteten.

Ved keddeltrykket på 1,2 bar har jeg oplevet at brygtemperaturen (jf. Erics device) har lagt ud på 93,5 gr i præinfusionsfasen og derefter faldet til 91,5 lige efter denne fase. Herefter er temperaturen steget med ca. 1 grad i den følgende bryggefase. Det skal lige pointeres at med flush'n'go metoden som jeg bruger så skal der tillægges 2 grader til den aflæsning jeg får på termometeret. Dvs. min start temperatur er 95,5 gr. der så falder til 93,5 grader for derefter at stige til ca. 94,5 grader.

Det jeg håber at opnå ved at nedjustere trykket i kedlen, er at minimere den efterfølgende stigning på 1 grad.